Natural Caves and Architecture Carved in the Rocks in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Updata:01-01-1970

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By:Ahmet Hadrovic

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30564/jsbct.v4i2.4976

Abstract:
Students of the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, through the course
Architecture of the Old Age, were able to get acquainted with “architecture
carved in rock”, and only a very limited number of examples - the archi
tecture of ancient Egypt, ancient Greek architecture in Asia Minor (Lycia),
and the architecture of ancient Persia. Many examples of this architectural
expression remained unknown to them: the architecture of ancient and
medieval India, the architecture of ancient and medieval China, the archi
tecture of the ancient Middle East (the area of today’s Israel, Jordan, Saudi
Arabia), vernacular architecture around the world from different historical
periods. As a teacher at the Faculty of Architecture in Sarajevo, the author,
after switching to the education of architecture students in accordance with
the “Bologna process” (2003), presented “architecture carved in the rocks”
through a series of subjects, through all levels of education (undergraduate,
master’s and doctoral studies), within the framework of processing narrow
er topics of architecture: constructive systems in architecture, bioclimatic
architecture, architecture as an energy system, architecture in context. The
complex process of creating architecture and explaining its appearance was
elaborated by the author (1988) in his doctoral dissertation. The topic “Ar
chitecture Carved in Rocks” was elaborated according to this model, which
on the one hand confirmed its applicability, and on the other hand enabled
students to look at the highly dispersed appearance of architecture in an ex
tremely systematic way, without losing sight of its basic elements: environ
ment, man, boundaries and perspectives. The aim of this work is to show
(and through examples in Bosnia and Herzegovina) that natural caves, with
more or less “refining”, are still used today, and that “carving architecture
into rocks” is an all-time and planetary phenomenon.
References:

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